


Like Broken Glass and Starry Dreams

by Reveille



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, F/M, On Alternia, Other, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, idk how to tag, some people are already tragically dead, writing is pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 08:11:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5449529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reveille/pseuds/Reveille
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's completely, utterly insane, but somehow it complements him perfectly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Broken Glass and Starry Dreams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [awespic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/awespic/gifts).



> Happy Holidays to this whole fandom! It's been a while since I've written pale action fic, so I hope it's not too bad >.> Hope you like!

It was the night before Twelfth Perigee’s Eve, and the streets were packed with last-minute giftshoppers hurrying around the city. The whole of Alternia had taken on a festive atmosphere as the normally very minimalist trolls set out decorations for the only time in an entire sweep.

In the midst of all this, one troll stood out, in a dark nondescript jacket and a mood to match. Hands in his pockets, Sollux Captor walked aimlessly down the road. Vendors tried to sell him anything and everything in a last-ditch attempt to get rid of their holiday wares.

“Any manner of weapon! I have swords, sickles, clubs, you name it! A perfect gift for your aspiring cavalreaper! Get em while they're hot!”

“We have the perfect fabrics for any kind of project! For one night, get your sign embroidered over any cloth completely free! Sales last just today! Hurry in!”

Hmm. KN would appreciate that one. He’d come back later.

“All kinds of holiday spices to flavor your food with! We have cinnamon bark, nutmeg, sweet grubsauce, and fresh honey!”

He flinched. _Honey_. Snatches of that half remembered night threatened to overwhelm him. The last night he saw Aradia….

He shook off the memories and kept walking. He noticed that he’d come up near a club that was, surprisingly, open for the holidays. What the heck, he figured. At least here, the music might be loud enough to drown out his own thoughts.

The moment he stepped in, he was greeted with a blast of music so loud it nearly knocked him off his feet. “Cool it!” he yelled to the show off DJ, who looked irritated, but turned it down slightly.

The room was massive and badly lit. He glimpsed a few people rocking out on the dance floor to the unmistakeable tune of “Megalovania”, the biggest hit on Alternia since forever. Mostly people were gathered around one troll near the punch table- one he knew very well.

“Sollux!” Feferi Peixes, the heiress to “the whole glubbing planet” and frequent fish-punner, managed to slip out of the tight knot of people and ran to hug him. “Wow, water you doing here? I didn't expect to find you! I thought you were at your hive.”

He shrugged. “I got bored. A troll can only stay so much time in their own hive before they go completely insane.”

“Whale, I’m glad! It’s been a long time since I've seen you. We never get to just glub at each other as friends anymore.” She glanced back at the mass of people who had been clustered around her. They all looked extremely confused and disappointed. “My paparazzi,” Feferi sighed. “They just won't leave me alone! Ever since the Condesce formally announced her challenger, I haven't had a moment’s peace.”

Sollux gave her a half grin. “At least you'll never be bored.”

“Yeah, I know.” Feferi adjusted her tiara. “I miss when we were kids. Everything was so much less confusing.”

“We’re still kind of kids. 7 and a half sweeps isn't that old.”

“I feel so much older, though.”

“Yeah, me too.”

There was a sudden cry of “There!” and the mob stampeded towards Feferi. She leapt up.

“Sorry, gotta rush! Sea you later, Sollux!” She dashed out the door as her fans started shouting questions. Who had she been talking to? Was Sollux her boyfriend? Were they star-crossed lovers, prevented from ever being together by her royal status? Sollux mentally facepalmed.

The DJ had left, and the dancers were milling around aimlessly. Despite the fact that a lot of people had left with the heiress, the club was still nearly full. Sollux decided that now would probably be a good time to head out.

However, life had a different plan for him. He took one step towards the door and collided with a short troll in teal and red.

“Hehe, didn't _see_ you there!” she cackled. She was a legislacerator, Sollux realized, which was probably not good for him. Behind her tinted shades, her eyes were scorched red and clearly blind.

“Uh, sorry,” Sollux said. She tilted her head like she was sizing him up. Which was kind of hilarious, because he was nearly a head taller.

“Hmm, what do we have here?” she said. She sniffed the air. “Oh, honey and appleberry- a psionics user, interesting!”

“How did you-“

“Slight lisp too. Very interesting! You don't seem as dull as the rest of this party. Let's chat!”

She grabbed his hand and tugged him over to a table. Sollux, seeing no way out of this, sat down reluctantly. She sat in front of him with an unnervingly sharklike grin. “What's your name, mister appleberry blast?”

“What's it to you?” Sollux said, more than a little irritated.

“Life is short, it’s almost Twelfth Perigee's Eve, and you look like a cool guy. Do I need a reason?”

“You're a legislacerator, they always have a reason!”

She pouted. “I never get to have any fun! Everyone's always like ‘Oh no, it's a legislacerator, she's gonna arrest me!’ I just want a good time out.”

“Were you guarding Feferi or something?”

She sighed. “Can we not do this right now? Please?”

He gave up. “Alright, fine! I'll be your friend for a night, or whatever this weird arrangement is. I'm Sollux Captor, hacker extraordinaire.”

She grinned again, and he noticed her wicked sharp teeth. “I'm Terezi. Care for a Tab?”

Over their sodas, they talked about nothing and everything, careful not to reveal too much to a complete stranger. Sollux found, to his surprise, that Terezi was actually pretty fun to be around, despite the odd way their conversation had started. As the hours went by and they became at once sugar-high and tired, the topics just got more ridiculous.

“No, seriously,” Terezi said, giggling into her drink. “This really beefy green blood threatens to beat up a poor random brown blood who’s wandered up for no particular reason, and what does Karkat do? He flips out completely and tries to punch the green in the face! I had to hold him back or else he would have gotten himself culled.”

Sollux snorted. “That sounds just like him. Did you know, I accidentally sent him a computer virus once, and after ranting at me about it for fifteen minutes, the idiot runs the program! It crashed his whole system and sent the virus to a bunch of his friends. He had a lot of explaining to do to the repair facility.”

“So how'd you learn so much about computers, anyways?” she asked, looking at him sideways.

“You know more than most blue bloods, and they have all the resources to do anything they want.”

“It's just a hobby of mine,” he shrugged. “Computers are easier than people.”

Terezi raised her eyebrows. “I can sense there are quite a few stories behind that statement, but for decorum’s sake I’m not going to ask.”

“And why’d you choose this lousy place to hang out? You're a rich legislacerator, you probably have access to a bunch of nicer, quieter clubs.”

She frowned. “Same as you, I guess. To drown out my thoughts.”

For the first time since they'd seen each other, there was a chink in Terezi’s too-cheerful, aggressively flirty demeanor, and Sollux glimpsed something else inside. But then it was gone, and she was back to her normal (loud) self. “We should dance, Mister Captor! Look, they're actually playing good songs for once.”

“What? No. I don't dance, TZ.”

“The honorable judge deems that a ridiculous statement, and motions that it be stricken from the record. Come on!”

She tugged him over to the dance floor despite his protests. The place looked like something out of a rave party, which was definitely not his scene. Sollux looked around for an escape.

Suddenly Terezi’s grip on his arm faltered. “Oh, no…”

Sollux followed her blind gaze to the entrance of the club, where a few guests in hoodies were walking in. At first glance, they looked completely normal… then he noticed the insignia on the jackets.

Laughsassins. They were like a specific brand of subjuggulators specifically trained for murder without a big fuss. Basically, hired hitmen.

“Run!” Terezi hissed. She tugged on his arm again, this time towards the back of the club. The area was deserted, with a couple trolls huddling and whispering in a corner. Terezi and Sollux ducked into a side hallway. The door was rusted so badly they nearly couldn't get it open, but

Terezi managed to pry it ajar (for someone so small, she was incredibly strong). The moment it was closed behind them Sollux turned to her. “Are you insane?”

Terezi leaned against the wall, catching her breath. “Absolutely and certifiably so, Mr. Captor, thanks for noticing.” She flipped her cane, then pulled it open, revealing a sword blade inside.

So she had come prepared. That was… unsettling, to say the least.

“They're not after me, are they? I mean, sure, I'm a psionic and I've had my fair share of questionable hacks, but-“

“No, Sollux, they're not after you! Sheesh.” She frowned. “Although, by associating with me, I guess you _might_ be in trouble now?”

Sollux groaned. “Great. Just great. What did you do to irritate the higher ups?”

Terezi held her sword at the ready. “I served justice to a troll who, frankly, was overdue for it, but apparently she had some pretty powerful allies. They won't leave me alive, I'm sure.” She glanced at him briefly. “If you run right now, they probably won't even know you were ever with me. You could just go back to your life.”

“No way,” he said immediately. “I'm sticking with you. Even though you're tough, you're still blind. Do you think I'd leave you to die?”

Her voice was teasing. “Is that the only reason?”

“Shut up!”

They were cut short by footfalls outside the rusted door, then a short bark of, “In here!” Sollux had momentarily forgotten they were being chased. He sprinted down the hall with Terezi close at his heels.

They burst out of the club and into the cold night air. One glance around made his heart sink: the entire place was surrounded by highblooded thugs. Dozens of identical sleek black cars were parked in the lot. They had no way out. Sollux and Terezi had been lucky enough to end up in a shadowy alleyway off to the side; even so, it was only a matter of time till they were found.

Terezi scanned the sky and growled in frustration. “Can't smell that high. Are any of them airborne?”

“No.”

Terezi grinned. “Perfect. We’ll have to climb up onto the roof!”

“Correction: you'll have to climb. Psionics, remember? I can fly.”

“Oh, right.” She almost looked annoyed. Keeping to the shadows, she leapt nimbly onto a window ledge. “Well, come on!” she hissed. “We literally have not got all day.”

“Alright, sheesh.” He followed her up, keeping a watchful eye on the laughsassins below.

On the roof, despite the chaos underneath, it seemed almost peaceful. The stars hung bright in the clear inky sky like little jewels. Terezi sat down, the sword beside her. Sollux turned his psionics off and touched down beside her.

“Okay,” he said. “Here's the part where you explain everything that's been going on, without being all cryptic and mysterious. Seriously, that shtick got old really, really fast.” Man, that sentence had a lot of s’s.

Terezi shrugged. “Fine with me. We're both in this together now, anyways. Now be quiet and listen.” She pulled the cane-sword closer to her. “When I was in the service, I had a friend. She was the best FLARPer I've ever known-“

“You play?” Sollux interrupted.

“I thought I told you to be quiet! I am monologuing here. And yes, I play. My friend- Vriska Serket- and I were the best team ever when we were kids. But where I started being interested in law and justice as an outlet for my skills, she was more into the idea of being a lone renegade, on the wrong side of the law and surpassed by no one. I was fine with that for a while, but then she killed a troll. Flat out murder instead of robbery on the high seas. And then I couldn't ignore her anymore.”

She shifted uncomfortably. “That one was revenge for something the other troll did a long time ago. The court couldn't catch her, so they sent me after her. It was a long chase involving lots of fighting that should definitely make it into an action movie! I caught up to her in some small town in the desert. I was just going to catch her and bring her to the court, but she challenged me to a duel. I gave her her duel, and apparently we were so evenly matched it was going nowhere. We chased each other for like a month. Then we came to this lovely little town, and to try to get rid of me she torched the whole thing. She murdered hundreds of innocent lives that day. When I finally caught up with her, I dueled to kill.” The memory was clearly painful.

“So… you killed a villain. Why are we being attacked now?”

“I already told you, dummy! She had a lot of high up ‘friends.’”

“Not high enough, apparently.”

“She probably instructed them to kill me if I somehow won our duel.” The corner of her mouth turned up. “She always did cheat.”

“Okay, I think I get it,” Sollux said. He frowned. “But why you? If you and Vriska were such good friends, why did you go after her?”

Terezi’s face darkened. “Just my luck, I guess. But I sort of felt responsible for her and everything she did. If I'd been a little more of a good influence, or something…”

Sollux saw her unbreakable armor crack again. He had a sense that she’d been broken many times in her life, and she’d put herself back together not quite right. Evidently this Vriska had mattered more to her than she let on. He had a sudden desire to put his arms around her and tell her everything would be okay.

 _Pale at first sight?_ A voice in his head suggested snidely.

 _Shut up_ , he told it.

“And you, Mr. Appleberry Blast with black rain clouds hovering over you? So long as we're unloading emotional baggage, I might as well hear your story.”

Oh, God. Where to begin?

“Well, it starts the same as you. I had a friend. Her name was Aradia.”

Just thinking about her brought up painful memories. The time they went up to some faraway mountain for an archaeology dig and they could forget the rest of the world for just a day. The time he'd stayed up all night coding and Aradia came over to tell him that he'd better get some sleep or else. The way her smile could light up the world whenever she saw him, even in her last moments. His matesprit, who had brought happiness into his stupid life, only to take it away when she left.

He forced himself to keep talking. “There was something in my thinkpan, I don't know what it was, but it took over my psionics, and made me fly over there, and-“ he couldn't say it.

Thankfully, Terezi seemed to understand. She squeezed his hand.

Neither said anything for a while, just watching the stars. Underneath, Alternia was alive with trolls who could shrug off their worries for one night of the sweep. Sollux got the feeling that his Twelfth Perigee’s Eve gift this sweep was meeting Terezi. She might be completely insane, but she's actually pretty cool.

“Sollux… My friend Vriska… She had powers. Mind control, stuff like that.” She was wrestling with an idea that Sollux suddenly understood, and wished he hadn't, because the implications were horrible to think about. “I think- I think she might have-“

“Oh, lovely, stargazing, are we?”

Sollux shot to his feet and cursed. Behind him stood three heavily armored trolls with wicked- looking weapons and sneers to match. “You could literally not have been anymore cliché villainesque,” he muttered.

The lead troll laughed uproariously. “Villains, you call us? According to empire law, you two are the criminals. You're hardly in a position to call us names.”

Oh, great, they were the _talkative_ type.

The troll furthest to the right pulled out a fancy scroll stamped in indigo with a flourish. She read it aloud.

“By the supreme decree of the members of the High Alternian Court, Terezi Pyrope is hereby declared an outlaw according to the Statutes of Legislacerator Conduct, and is summoned to the Court for summary execution.”

Terezi scowled. “If I'd known that all Alternian lawmakers were this corrupt, I would never have signed up to work for them!”

The lead troll snapped his fingers. “But wait, there's more!”

He too pulled out a scroll, but this one was written in eye-watering glittery tyrian purple.

“By the highest authority of Her Imperious Condescension, Sollux Captor is summoned to the warship Battleship Condescension for immediate conscription into our empress’s service.”

He grinned. “Kid, you're gonna be a helmsman. To the Condesce, no less! Congratulations. Nice knowing ya.”

Sollux was stunned. He'd known that his psionic powers made him a prime target for highbloods who wanted a troll battery, but he'd never imagined that the Condesce herself would take an interest.

The troll on the left leered at them. “Time to go, kiddos! Aren't you excited?”

“No, cause I'm not brain dead,” Sollux muttered.

Two choppers were circling overhead, cannons aimed if they tried anything. He couldn't fly out of this one. There was nowhere to run. Terezi tensed behind him, ready to go out fighting.

And an idea struck him at the best possible time. “How good is your sword at breaking things, TZ?”

“Very good.”

He lifted it from her hands surreptitiously with his powers.

One, two, three… Now!

He raised the sword and plunged it through the roof beneath them. It splintered, spider cracks running through it. A huge section tore off and sent Sollux and Terezi tumbling back down into the club. The retrieval trolls howled in rage as they disappeared from sight.

The music was as loud as ever, and Sollux silently thanked the DJ for making such a chaotic atmosphere. No one noticed the ten-foot hole in the roof or the two trolls falling through it. The last of the red-blue energy slowed their fall.

Sollux winced. He could feel a major headache coming on. “I'm not going to be able to do that again. Your turn to save us.”

Terezi gave her trademark sharklike smile. “No problem!”

They pushed through the crowds to the front entrance. Sollux wondered vaguely what the heck she was planning; the moment they’d step out there they'd be gunned down.

She stepped straight into the open, pulling Sollux along with her, and ran like a demon.

Sollux wasn't sure how they were alive. A dozen gunshots rang out at once, and not one hit them. The choppers fired their cannons, but not a mark on the outlaws. They reached a car with a license plate reading 2COOL4U (seriously?), hopped in, and got the heck out of dodge.

Action movie fans would love this scene: the two triumphant heroes driving at ninety miles an hour while a lot of things exploded behind them in slow motion.

Unfortunately, it wasn't over yet. Sirens started wailing as their attackers got wind of their escape. And the whole scene just got more action movie-esque when Terezi stood up _in the driver's seat_ (she really is insane, he'll think later) and started swatting bullets out of the air like some high-stakes game of baseball.

Their pursuers gave chase for two tense miles, but for some reason TZ’s car could outrun all their choppers and cars. At last, as the sun was peeking over the horizon, they were alone on the road.

Sollux was still somewhat awestruck. “How in Alternia did you do that?”

Terezi, hands gripping the steering wheel (and somehow driving despite being blind, who even is this girl), said, “A gift from an old friend.”

“What kind of gift?”

“A whole lot of luck.”

They were silent for a minute. Then Terezi said, “Do you want to know why all this is happening to us?”

“I've been asking that question for sweeps.”

“It’s because Alternia is messed up. Completely screwed up in every imaginable way. And do you why that is?”

“Stop asking rhetorical questions. Yes, obviously I want to know!”

“We are built believing that everything a person _is_ is because of the station they were born into. And the highbloods who control us? They have no right to treat us like dirt! Everything that they do, chaining psionic low bloods into helmsblocks, never taking tealbloods seriously when talking to indigos, even- ” she swallowed. “Even trolls who think it's okay to take petty revenge against others.” Sollux knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Well, that's just the way things are,” Sollux said wearily. “You're a lowblood, your life sucks. What could we ever do to change the world?”

“Maybe not us specifically,” she said, eyes gleaming. “Maybe a friend of yours, with actual power. Maybe someone who could put an end to everything.”

Sollux blinked. “You don't mean… Feferi?”

“Exactly.”

Sollux crossed his arms. "Okay... suppose that I accept for one second that we actually have a shot at this... whatever this insane plan is. Who would listen to us? Who would even care if the lowbloods suffer, when everyone up above is comfortable in their mansions?"

Terezi smiled. "If they don't care, we can _make_ them care." She held out a silver pendant in the shape of a sign that everyone knew, though many tried to make them forget.

In the blink of an eye, Sollux’s life had changed. Where 24 hours earlier he had been a nobody in the eyes of Alternia, now he was wanted for the Condesce’s ship herself, and an outlaw conspiring to take down the unjust system of his planet.

…Okay, maybe the last one is a bit of a stretch. But hey, it could happen.

Also, he may have just found himself a moirail.

Someday, he thought, someday, he would do it. He would save the world. For Aradia, and Terezi, and everyone else forgotten by justice. But for now, with a crazy blind legislacerator by his side, he’ll run, run like a demon.

And watching him from the dust, a girl in maroon red, eyes ghostly white, smiled.

 


End file.
